Beauty takes her first step toward taking her first step

By Rita Laws, Animal Care and Disaster Relief Animal Aid Supervisor


Beauty arrived two weeks ago with her legs twisted horribly in all directions.
She was four months old, but had never been able to stand, let alone walk. She
had been kept in a plastic bin and was covered with her own excrement, causing
painful sores on her leg and sternum. She was very thin, dirty and weak.

 

After a bath she was placed in our trademark Pasado's sling to keep her off the ground and clean then given some sunflower seeds and corn. She proceeded to (forgive me Louise) eat like a pig. We took her right to our favorite bird Veterinarian, Dr. Maas at the Avian & Exotic Animal Hospital in Bothell. After a thorough exam and some x-rays,
Dr. Maas said "we can fix this, she deserves to be able to walk". Music to our ears and it got better with his next statement "I will do this for the cost of materials".

We set up an appointment for the following week and took Beauty back to the farm to fatten her up. A week later, after tons of Susan's sick chicken mash and plenty of love, she had gained enough weight. On Wednesday she was taken in for her first surgery. Dr. Maas was amazed at how good she looked and after some minor clucking, took her into the operating room. During the procedure her leg had  to be broken, turned to face the proper way and then pinned. Dr. Maas said it went "extremely well" and with lots of physical therapy (to strengthen and retrain her muscles and ligaments) it should be as good as slightly used. In 3-4 weeks she will be back under the scalpel to fix
her other leg! Although she is not quite a "Beauty" yet, she is well on her way.

Above, x-rays show how contorted her legs are. They should be bent, to allow her to walk, run, and lay down. It's just shameful that we use animals to teach children in this manner. There is no care to educate them about what happens after a baby is born. The "darling" chicks they see hatch, are disposed of, never to be thought of again.  Pasado’s Safe Haven successfully ended chick hatching in the largest school system in the Northwest, but Beauty, as we named her, came from a neighboring district. And she most likely wasn’t “born that way”. Chicks hatched in schools are not given the nutrition they require because the teachers given few tools, except for an incubator and eggs. In the end, no one knows what to do with the chicks, when the school year ends. Many get dumped and killed by predators.

Photo Gallery:

Beauty is now recovering in our offices, in one of the many Pasado patented “slings” we’ve used for every thing from a chicken, to a turkey, to a goat and cow. There is no such mechanism "on the market" to help farm animals to stand and learn to walk again, so we've had to make them ourselves.

Left, one of her legs, post-op with pins inserted to give her the optimal chance at walking again.
 

Above, Beauty shares lunch with one of our office cats. Contrary to what most might think, cats and chickens get along just fine.  She’s feasting on her “ricket” mash: fresh spinach, honey, oatmeal, and vitamins and receiving physical therapy every day by Pasado’s dedicated animal caretakers. We hope Beauty will see a future of running with our other chickens by Spring. Keep your chicken legs crossed for her!